(THREAD) It's time to tell the biggest untold story of the 2016 election: how a cadre of pro-Trump FBI agents and intel officers—some active, some retired—conspired to swing the election to Trump. The story involves Flynn, Prince, Giuliani, and others. Hope you'll read and share. http://pic.twitter.com/vcGhDTHX00— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
1/ True Pundit is a pro-Trump fake news site that began publishing on June 9, 2016—the day that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Kremlin agents in Trump Tower to discuss the Kremlin's provision to the Trump campaign of incriminating material on Clinton.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
2/ True Pundit would quickly reveal itself as having the same agenda Trump Jr. had when he met with Kremlin agents on the day True Pundit launched: its mission would be to destroy Clinton's candidacy by uncovering incriminating material about her—particularly via her emails.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
3/ All articles on True Pundit are published anonymously. The only person publicly associated with the website operates under a pseudonym—"Thomas Paine." (Thomas Paine, a Founding Father of the United States, was instrumental in convincing the colonies to rebel against Britain.)— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
4/ From June 9, 2016 to June 12, 2016, it seemed clear True Pundit had been started up in a hurry—it published dozens of stories but no original reporting. More than 95% of stories were simply links to other sources, while True Pundit "originals" were two-sentence news summaries.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
5/ Many of True Pundit's early news sources were predictable: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, InfoWars, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, and The Daily Beast. Breitbart was far and away the most commonly linked-to website at the time.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
6/ But True Pundit also, in its first three days, occasionally linked to mainstream news sources like The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, ESPN, Reuters, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), and The Independent (UK).— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
7/ That said, in its first 72 hours True Pundit also linked to two Russian news sources—RT and Sputnik—an intelligence-oriented site called "Intel News," and several fringe-right publications. A typical link assured readers Clinton would destroy America: https://t.co/zVAsOuZd8T— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
8/ Then, on June 12th, 2016, the Orlando nightclub shooting occurred—and it seemed a switch had been turned on. True Pundit had its story. The site meticulously covered Omar Mateen, the 29 year-old from a moderate Muslim family who killed 49 people at an LGBT club called "Pulse."— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
9/ It's important to know that of the site's first several dozen stories pre-June 12, only one was both a) not a link to another source, and b) more than two sentences. This story—about the July DNC—claimed True Pundit (just 3 days old) had "police" and "security expert" sources. http://pic.twitter.com/earxI8NRLp— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
10/ It must've seemed odd to any readers of True Pundit in those first 72 hours of operation to read that the Philly publication already had *multiple* sources in the Philadelphia Police Department and *multiple* Philly-based "recognized security expert" sources—but so they said.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
11/ But Mateen changed everything. Suddenly True Pundit was publishing what it said were original ("exclusive") stories, all of which relied—or claimed to—on FBI sources. Not just one source, but multiple—and not just random sources, but sources close to the Pulse investigation. http://pic.twitter.com/VnUtO9xEH5— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
12/ The mystery of this was dispelled almost immediately, when True Pundit wrote the following in an "exclusive" on Mateen after the shooting: "True Pundit has folks who worked for the FBI and other agencies on staff." It then claimed to have "unique insight" into FBI operations. http://pic.twitter.com/EeRzCwOQJi— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
Almost half way there, keep reading.13/ Whether or not True Pundit really had ex-FBI staff, no reader could possibly know. But what was clear was that True Pundit was obsessed with the FBI, had—at a minimum—some basic knowledge of criminal investigation, and was very, very, angry at the current state of the Bureau: http://pic.twitter.com/18ySp1EWN2— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
14/ Two things must be noted here: first, that the complaint True Pundit has about the FBI—that it radically underestimates the threat of Islamist terrorism and values HUMINT too little in fighting terrorism—are exactly the anti-terror complaints Mike Flynn has widely publicized.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
15/ Second, if True Pundit had told the truth about itself, it meant (a) the very purpose of the website was to give ex-FBI agents an opportunity to complain about the Bureau, and (b) the site's M.O. in doing so would be to use as sources current FBI agents upset with the Bureau.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
16/ Keep in mind that, by June 2016, the FBI had already been investigating Hillary Clinton's emails for eleven months—since July of 2015. Indeed, the FBI's investigation into Clinton's emails had begun at almost exactly the same time Donald Trump announced his presidential run.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
17/ Keep in mind, too, that True Pundit was launched less than a month before then-FBI Director James Comey announced—on July 5, 2016—that the Bureau was not going to bring charges against Clinton. By mid-June, current FBI agents would've just learned no charges were forthcoming.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
18/ Rudy Giuliani would later describe the anti-Clinton elements at the FBI as being, during Summer/Fall 2016, not just "angry" but "boiling," and not just "boiling" but on the brink of "revolution."— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
True Pundit appears to have been an outgrowth of that. https://t.co/ajAmHr31Ft
19/ So this is where I point out that there was one *other* story—besides the Omar Mateen story—that True Pundit was positively obsessed with (and doing "exclusive" reporting on, using FBI sources) during its first week: Hillary Clinton's emails and the FBI investigation thereof.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
20/ Just 96 hours into its existence, True Pundit was running a *multi-part* "exclusive" on an FBI probe the site's authors' friends in the Bureau were conducting. The reports cited "intelligence sources" with extensive knowledge of the FBI investigation. https://t.co/yUNLFcmfMQ— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
21/ In "Part 2" of its "exclusive" reporting on the FBI investigation of Clinton's emails, the self-professed ex-FBI agents behind True Pundit quoted sources within the FBI investigation clearly angry at Mrs. Clinton for (they said) withholding her emails. https://t.co/bq2ZxgUhqF— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
22/ You have to understand the level of access to current FBI agents True Pundit was then claiming to have: the site, which had started up *less than 100 hours prior*, was claiming to have *exclusive* knowledge of *prior FBI contacts* with the nation's then-most infamous killer. http://pic.twitter.com/m1PbEKFoWl— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
23/ By June 13, 2016, it was clear that True Pundit was a political outfit: it had quoted from and linked to a Trump press release, and had mercilessly attacked the Democratic candidate for president. Any active FBI agent speaking to True Pundit was—already—a Hatch Act violation.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
24/ Here's all the info you need on the Hatch Act.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
It applies to the FBI and—while not a criminal statute—a violation of the Hatch Act is a violation of federal law and would get you fired from federal employment immediately (assuming a serious breach). https://t.co/KxH68GTvSo
Almost to the end, I swear.25/ So here's where things get complicated. Beginning in mid-June 2016, True Pundit switches to all original "reporting" and begins publishing longer stories. It is relentlessly right-wing: anti-immigration, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Trump, virulently anti-Clinton and anti-Obama.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
26/ It also takes a hard turn into anti-Clinton fake news within its first week—as the story below demonstrates. https://t.co/UNS6OOZv6R— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
27/ But here's what you *really* need to understand: the FBI quickly became aware of this website—at the highest levels—and *acknowledged*, internally, that the people behind True Pundit had access to intel from *current* FBI agents.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
Even *James Comey* was aware of True Pundit.
28/ And it *matters* that James Comey was (a) aware of True Pundit, and (b) believed they had sources within the FBI.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
Moreover, it *matters* that he knew—and he did—that True Pundit was angling for sources *inside* the Clinton probe, and that Comey's deputy thought he had them.
29/ Documents acquired via FOIA requests by (of all organizations) Judicial Watch reveal that Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy, believed that True Pundit had "heavyweight" sources within the FBI. While Comey was skeptical, he *acknowledged* the sources were *definitely* FBI sources.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
How's that for a mind fuck?30/ When McCabe forwarded a True Pundit story to Comey on October 24, 2016, calling its source on Clinton "heavyweight," Comey demurred, saying "This still reads to me like someone not involved in the investigation at all, maybe somebody who heard rumors." https://t.co/qTfZ8oKoep— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017
And do you want to know the kicker?
Now the FBI is all pissed off with how Trump is treating them.
Courtesy of Business Insider:
Frank Montoya, Jr., a former FBI special agent who served as the Director of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, was blunt.
"There is a lot of anger in the FBI (the entire intelligence community, for that matter) over how this president will say nary a negative word about the Russians, but will insult us every chance he gets," he said.
You reap what you sow, you reap what you sow.
Source http://ift.tt/2nMq9Yt
